Sherrod Brown: Obama should hold his ground

CINCINNATI (AP) — Ohio’s Democratic senator said Thursday that President Barack Obama should hold fast in his shutdown standoff with Republicans while his GOP counterpart called the White House’s refusal to negotiate unusual.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown told The Associated Press that Republicans could use a shutdown threat as a tool in the future if Obama yields to their demands.
“It would be government by hostage-taking every two or three months, and we can’t govern that way,” Brown said, saying he is “pretty shocked” that the standoff is taking the country to the brink of a default.
Republican Sen. Rob Portman said the president should be making an effort to address the underlying budget and debt problems.
“My objective is to avoid the debt limit crisis, that’s important, but we also have to avoid the debt crisis that faces the country,” Portman told reporters on a conference call.
Portman wants a plan that cuts spending and reforms the tax code to stimulate growth, and said Obama should be willing to work together to “avoid a debt crisis tomorrow.”
Brown said House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester, should put the Senate-passed plan to a vote.
Ahead of a White House meeting Thursday, Boehner said Republicans would vote to extend the government’s ability to borrow money for six weeks if Obama agreed to negotiations on spending cuts. The president has said the debt ceiling must be raised and the partial federal government shutdown ended without conditions.
Brown and Portman both said they are hearing a lot from Ohioans very concerned about the situation.
“I spent the last three days talking to bankers all over the state .... they’re saying ‘Are you people out of your minds?’“ Brown said.
Portman said the shutdown hasn’t been easy for his constituents.
A lot of them are concerned about it,” he said. “Others strongly believe we need to hold firm because of the spending issues.”
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Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Cincinnati contributed.
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